February 02, 2013 07:25 PM CSTFebruary 03, 2013 09:24 AM CSTMoore: Why 49ers' revival may grate on Cowboys for a long while

Moore: Why 49ers' revival may grate on Cowboys for a long while

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Jan. 23, 1994, NFC Championship Game, Cowboys 38, 49ers 21:

The Cowboys took control in the first half, outscoring the 49ers, 28-7. A big day for Emmitt Smith, who carried 23 times for 88 yards and a touchdown and caught seven passes from Troy Aikman for 85 yards and a score. Dallas would go on to defeat the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl.

NEW ORLEANS — San Francisco is back. The Cowboys’ fiercest rival from the 1990s has returned to prominence. A win over Baltimore on Sunday evening in Super Bowl XLVII would allow the 49ers to break their tie with Dallas and join Pittsburgh with six titles as the league’s most successful franchises.

That’s got to hurt.

“I can remain professional and say no, but why do that?” Cowboys Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin said.

“Absolutely it does.”

Eleven NFC franchises have appeared in the Super Bowl since the Cowboys last took home the Lombardi Trophy on Jan. 28, 1996. Perhaps the only solace found at Valley Ranch was that San Francisco had also fallen off the competitive map.

The absence of the Cowboys and 49ers made it a little easier to rationalize that all, proud franchises must spend some time in the valley before they return to the mountain top. That excuse is no longer available to the Cowboys.

Here’s another sobering thought: Not only are the 49ers appreciably better than the Cowboys, they appear built to stay. Only five players who will start in Sunday’s game are in their 30s.

The Cowboys and 49ers battled for supremacy for most of the ’90s. Dallas was the last of the two to win the championship.

A lack of postseason success by the Cowboys these last 17 years has been well-documented. But the team has enjoyed some good regular seasons during this barren period.

San Francisco fell harder. The 49ers went eight consecutive seasons, from 2003-10, without a winning season or playoff appearance. The franchise was 46-82 during its blue period.

These 49ers are motivated to carve a niche for themselves in the franchise’s rich history.

“It’s like if you have an older brother and you’re trying to be your own man and every time you turn around there is someone telling you that your brother used to do this, your brother used to do that,” said linebacker Patrick Willis, part of that ’07 draft class. “You would not take offense because you always love your older brother. At the same time, it’s like, ‘Man, I want to have my own identity. I want to be my own person.’

“We have all the respect in the world for those guys because they are the ones who paved the way to what we get to do today. We will forever be grateful and thankful for that.“We want to join them in the ranks of having the Super Bowl trophy. That’s what we want to do. We want to collage the old school with the modern day, the new school, and we can all say we had a hand in this.”

The Cowboys’ road back to the Super Bowl is far from paved.

On Sunday, all they can do is sit back and see if the 49ers pass them.

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